Here’s why this far-out Stranger Things Season 3 might actually make sense, even if one of the show’s stars already shot it down.

Possible spoilers for Stranger Things Season 3 below.

If you missed our report back in December, here’s why we’re pretty sure the Soviets will play a key role in Season 3. Back in November 2018, The Stranger Things IMDb page listed several roles including “Russian soldier,” “Russian officer,” and “Russian Guard.” Shortly after a fan noticed and posted about it on Reddit, the word “Russian” disappeared, suggesting that someone at Netflix noticed the IMDb leak and quickly squashed it.

However, since then, we’ve seen even more Russian references pop-up in Stranger Things promotional materials. The recent Season 3 premiere date announcement featured a Russian word that translates to a number as well as Lynx Corp and a computer program “silvercatfeeds.exe.” The lynx is a cat with silver hair in Russia.

Based on all this evidence, a popular theory that Murray Bauman is either a Russian spy or Russian sympathizer has resurfaced.

“It’d be completely perfect,” redditor u/minimalmaple28 writes. “He lives near a secret government lab, and has a whole ‘tin foil hat’ conspiracy theorist persona going on to fool people. He enjoys talking about Russia and communists, he enjoys vodka, and he’d easily be able to conceal wanting to destroy government facilities or finding out information about the government as just being a crazy conspiracist because that’s what the town thinks of him.”

Is there a Russian spy in this photo?

It sounds pretty convincing, but Stranger Things star David Harbour did shoot down this exact theory from redditor u/haliad back in August 2018 when Season 3 was in the middle of production. While the actor called it “very interesting,” he told Vanity Fair that he didn’t think it’s true:

“It would have to be a big double bluff because he comes to me in the beginning of the episode and says there’s a Russian spy presence in Hawkins, and I don’t believe him. So, he would theoretically have to be revealing himself to me at the beginning of the season only for it to be a subterfuge. I think that the Russian thing is sort of a funny conspiracy theory that Murray has and he’s a real just conspiracy theory nut. I think he is what he appears to be.”

He also said that “you’re going to see more of Murray in seasons to come,” which suggests he’ll play some sort of role in Season 3. And if Russians are somehow involved in the new season, it’s hard to imagine Murray not having something to say or being connected to that storyline in some way.

Just because Murray is (likely) not a Russian spy doesn’t mean he can’t end up sympathizing with them. He might even be persuaded to switch sides.

Or maybe he’ll be the first to notice something suspicious is going on in Hawkins and thinks it’s connected to Russian spies … only for no one to believe him because he’s a conspiracy theorist. That could inform his storyline for Season 3 and beyond, whatever it may be.

Stranger Things Season 3 will be available on July 4, 2019 on Netflix.

Related video: Stranger Things Teaser Reveals Season 3 Episode Titles

Are you reading into these Season 3 episode titles too much?Media via Netflix